My Ten Questions

What’s one piece of advice you’d give your younger self?

The career can wait! Life can’t!

I was terrified that taking a year off to travel in the early part of my career would derail my career. In reality the skills you learn when travelling are fantastic tools for managing conflict, problem solving and communication in the workplace. Staying in strange places and having to continually meet and interact with new people is a great skill and builds confidence.

Fortunately I’ve been successful enough in my career to allow me to travel to some amazing places and meet some incredible people so I don’t feel like I have missed out. Besides I have just returned from a mini career break and it certainly isn’t going to be my last.

I’m still working full-time in Financial Services, moonlighting as a travel blogger and planning my long-term ultimate escape….

Do you have any pets? Tell us about them.

Just my husband. He is tall, hairy, needs a lot of love and affection and can always make me laugh….even when I want to be mad at him!

Here he is chilling in the Intercontinental in Hua Hin on a recent trip…

What do you think of when you think of China?

The Great Wall of China of course – it is definitely on my bucket list as the scenery looks incredible! And I hear you can do a half marathon there too. What an awesome place to run (or crawl)!

For 2015 what is your biggest goal?

To build the audience for my blog by delivering content that people want and value.

Please feel free to get in touch with any topics you would like me to cover in future blogs.

Perhaps more importantly I would like my marriage to survive an Ayurveda retreat in India. My husband’s idea of a holiday is to eat well, drink well and indulge his sugar habit with copious amounts of chocolate!! Did I mention he also hates yoga and meditation?

I have pre-warned him that he will be denied all of this but I think he thinks he is going to smuggle in a secret stash! Let the battle of chocolate v Buddha commence…

Who is your dream dinner party guest?

Richard Branson – he’s controversial, looks like fun and who knows I might be able to persuade him to allow me to review ‘Necker Island’ or just retire there!

Otherwise it would have to be Bear Grylls – I suspect he is a bit like New Zealand. You get talking to him and before you know it have agreed to climb a mountain! I ended up doing things in New Zealand that I never intended but the country simply has that effect on people.

Here’s me paragliding in New Zealand (a long time ago)!

For those unfamiliar Bear was in the British army and broke his back on a climbing expedition. He now is a television presenter doing survival programmes and other crazy things. Plus he hung out on a cliff face with Channing Tatum for a night….how cool is that?

What is your favorite outdoor activity?

Running but I also love skiing, scuba diving and tennis.

Running is accessible, allows me to clear my head and I love how different the world looks when running.

Some of my favourite travel memories are of running through tiny villages in Indonesia with children chasing us, to being chased down the beach by dogs in Goa. I’m in no rush to repeat the latter!

Here’s me preparing for a dive in Borneo and really wishing my race was over on the right! Wine the night before a race is a bad idea!

What does a normal day look like for you?

OK so that is in my dreams – current reality is study, blog, work, study, run, blog…..repeat! It just doesn’t have the same ring does it? But I can dream right?

What are you really, really good at?

Organizing trips. It’s a true passion and I like to do it all independently. I helped my physio plan her honeymoon, my colleague plan his anniversary weekend away and if I’m not planning my own trip, I am certainly thinking about it.

My husband would probably say talking but what does he know?

What surprised you most about blogging?

How little it is about the actual writing. The end reader sees little of what goes on behind the scenes including a momentous learning curve covering:

Basic code

Different design tools

Sourcing images

Search Engine optimization

Data analysis to understand what does and doesn’t work

Article research

Proof reading and formatting

Content creation

It can be really overwhelming especially fitting it in around work and study for an MBA. The positive news is you can see impact quite quickly with the wide range of tools which are freely available.

It is also immensely rewarding when people start to engage and comment on articles.

What’s your favorite travel product?

Simple but stunning. Travel Pods which come in different shapes, sizes and designs but allow me to compartmentalize my packing.

I have separate ones for my electrical cables and plugs, my underwear and toiletries and can easily retrieve key items I need without unpacking the entire case.

You can see some examples below although there are lots of different sizes and colours to suit everyone’s tastes.<A HREF=”http://ws-eu.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?rt=tf_cw&ServiceVersion=20070822&MarketPlace=GB&ID=V20070822%2FGB%2Fwwwtraveltheg-21%2F8010%2Fe6e34362-a198-45ea-83d2-e391f00a04ff&Operation=NoScript”>Amazon.co.uk Widgets</A>

What are the top 5 countries on your bucket list?

It’s a long bucket list. The more I travel, the more inspiration I get.

Antarctica (I know it’s not a country!) has to be on there for the scenery and the cheeky penguins. I mean, how incredible is this picture?

China for the Great Wall, scenery and culture, plus I always like a big stamp in my passport!

Philippines for awesome diving and scenery.

Costa Rica for wildlife, yoga and scenery.

India for an assault on all the senses. I have visited a few times but absolutely love this country for the colours, the noise, the sacred cows and sheer authenticity. I am also a great yoga lover and have visited a number of Ayurveda centres for retreats.

I hope you have found my story of interest and in turn will enjoy some of those I nominate.

First the important stuff – Liebster award rules are:

THANK the person who nominated you and link to their blog website 🙂

Answer their 10 questions and link your answers back to their blog website. 🙂

The 10 questions that I’ve asked my nominees to answer should be linked back to my blog website by posting the link to the comments section of my blog so that everyone can see your answers to my questions.

Make up 10 of your own questions to ask your 10 nominees and have them link back their answers to your blog website. 💡

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About Anne

Anne is the founder and editor of TravelTheGlobe4Less. If she isn't travelling, she is thinking of travelling or planning her next trip. She has visited over 80 countries on six continents and sampled everything from backpacking to bank bursting travel. Her mission is to help you enjoy more luxurious travel without the luxury price tag through the use of airline and hotel rewards and other money saving travel tips

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8 comments

Hi Anne; What a delightful fun approach to answering the questions involved in this award. Congrats on receiving it. Does your husband know how much he figures in your blogging? I agree with what you said about how much goes into a blog that people don’t see. And you didn’t have to run your site by hand coding html like I did for over five years. Trust me whether you are looking at or listening to all those less thans, greater thans, slashes, etc they will drive you mad eventually. Which is why I thank God for word press on a regular basis. I still hand coe some aspects of my blog but it’s because I’m more comfortable doing it that way and can do it so much quicker. Wishing you much more success, Max